Death's Heir (A Heroes of OlympusPercy Jackson Based Short Story)
by 10000Balloons
Summary: This is the story of a camp free demi-god named Blink, the son of Thanatos and how he manages to survive on his own with the help of his clear-sighted friend Caleb. He encounters Zaire who is a son of Nike and also on the road on his own without much experience of being a demi god. So Blink begrudgingly takes him in, unaware that Gaea is after this Demigod for his particular gift.


Death's Heir

This is my first draft, so any comments would be more than helpful. I've also been considering writing either a sequel or a prequel going more into Blink's past. So please review and tell me what you liked/didn't like. I realized that it's long compared to some of the other things I'm seeing but I've spent months working on it. I don't think I crossed with anything Rick has said in his stories which was the goal. I wanted to create my own story within his universe that held it's own weight to an extent. This is the first story I've ever really written too so the more criticism I get the better. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Gizelle Smith was in all definitions of the word, a hippie. Her bright red hair was ridden with feathers and beads, she only wore clothing that was handmade naturally, and she believed that all people were good, and all things ran full circle. She would be defined by the government as homeless, but she lived off of the land with her band of merry people at their camp in California. However, when her mother got word to Gizelle about how she had a heart attack and she was in the hospital, the spirited woman took the only car the group had to get to LA.

Now, the death of a loved one was not something a person had to deal with every day, not even every month. Yet Gizelle understood that all things must come to an end as she comforted her mother to her death. Yes of course it was sad, but with her daughter at her side, Martha Smith was at peace when she departed this world.

The doctor overseeing Martha spoke only briefly with Gizelle during his time there, at first, it seemed like he wasn't even the same doctor from when she first arrived, but she dismissed the notion knowing how crazy it sounded.

The man was tall, with dark, chocolate skin that seemed to shine in the dim light of the room, his beauty seemed to radiate from his body almost as much as the coldness and loneliness that went with it. Yet whenever Gizelle looked into those honey gold eyes she felt a sense of peace wash over her, as if even though something was over, it would be okay in the end.

It was a cocktail of emotions, yet, that was death, who stood in front of the fiery haired beauty dressed in a labcoat, a black polo, and khakis. Now, one might think that death would take Martha's soul oblivious to the view of mortals, yet Gizelle intrigued him, something that did not usually happen. So he took this doctor's place so he could speak to her, and before the end of their first conversation, he was in love.

Or so he thought, he'd been confused with the winged god of love before, so perhaps Death might even be falling for the same trick!

Yet the more he spoke with Gizelle the more he fell in love with her. And despite his duties he just couldn't leave her alone, not that she would let him alone either. She had to stay in the city for a while to set her mother's affairs in order, and while she accepted her mother's death, it was still hard on her, and Thanatos helped her through the hard time, much to his own dismay. Eventually, he discovered Gizelle was pregnant, so he told her who he was, Thanatos, god of Death.

She took it all rather well, despite being a mortal that could not see through the mist, all of this being new to her, she'd always been accepting of many ideas, and why should this one be so hard to take on? So she went through her pregnancy with pride, the others in her group not even questioning who the father was, they were all rather understanding about the whole thing.

On the day of her baby's birth, Gizelle prayed for Thanatos to be there, yet he would not show, saying that death was not a good omen for bringing life into the world. He'd even told her that he'd worried whether the child would be alive or not. Yet she had no fear. And so, she birthed a beautiful baby boy. However he was small and pale, bearing no resemblance to his father, as if fighting for his life against his father's nature in the womb drained all the color from his skin.

As she held him in her arms, just looking at his face, she smiled, wondering if Thantatos was watching them, but of course she knew that he was, somewhere, somehow. Yet when she blinked, the baby was gone, now, most people might not have taken that phrase seriously, but this boy was about to make the phrase I blinked and he vanished, a whole new meaning. And so, when Thanatos appeared, holding his son, Gizelle thought that blink brought her the two greatest gifts she could have hoped for, so that became her child's name. He was Blink Smith.

As he grew up, Blink had about the easiest life of any demi-god ever. Most had to worry about school, their ADHD and dyslexia ruining their childhoods, however growing up with a group of hippies made that much easier. They were all very patient with his inability to read and how hard it was to pay attention or sit still.

So, Blink grew up in this band of American rejects, happy as could be, although his mother worried for him, because every now and again, Blink would vanish. Not in the sense that he would go run off playing, no, he would literally be right in front of her, then poof! No more Blink. Yet he'd always find his way home, usually with the assistance of his father.

Thanatos explained it to her a few months after he had been born, they sat close to each other by the fire, Gizelle holding her baby, far too scared that if she put him down, he'd vanish, although he'd do that straight from her arms anyways.

"He has taken on part of my nature, you see, whenever something dies, I am drawn to it, to see its soul safely guided to the underworld. Or just stays dead. As a god, I can be many places at once, or just my influence is enough, however Blink is just a mortal. So, when death calls, it mistakes him for me, and drags him to wherever that may be."

As if on cue, the baby vanished from his mother's arms. Thanatos just sighed and disappeared himself, holding his son softly, yet he looked scared, as if Blink was a piece of china that could break if he even so much as held him too tightly.

"I'm afraid there's not much I can do, gods are not permitted to interfere with their children, however, Blink is a special case, as he is also my first son. So I've seen to it that I can keep a closer eye on Blink so he doesn't kill anyone on accident. I'll watch him and see that he isn't taken too far from you when he vanishes. But I can only act indirectly, he'll have to learn to control this on his own."

He handed the baby back to his mother, the dark skinned god looking rather morbid, as if he thought he'd made a mistake. Gizelle looked to her child, then to Thanatos as she smiled, seeing the god's doubt in his own decision, placing her hand on his cheek she looked into his eyes, those swimming pools of honey entrancing her just as they had when she first met Death. "I'm just happy you can be there for him my love. He'll be a wonderful boy."

Yet Death said nothing, worried for the life of his son. It was an odd feeling, Death not wanting to have to do his job. Yet he only wanted the best for his son, as any father would.

Blink grew to be more like his mother every year, caring and compassionate, showing so much love for others that if people were to learn of his true parentage, they might not believe it on account of how sweet the boy was. In his own way of course, Blink was a bit… out there. He tended to ramble about things that made little to no sense in the conversation he was having, several times, very quickly.

He was a walking contradiction, the offspring of death, who looked nothing like his father. Blink's skin was still pale as snow, almost as if he were a walking corpse, yet on top of his head was a mop of crimson hair. The flaming locks streaking down his face to about his mouth and at shoulder length in the back as well as all around his head, like he'd never had a haircut in his life. Which wasn't entirely true, he did have one every year, even if they didn't take a whole lot off. His eyes were the only trait of his father's he took on, physically at least, the shining nectar of his eyes giving the same aura as his fathers, peaceful, yet at the same time uncontrollable.

During those years he'd never had too much of a problem with monsters; even though a monster smelled demigod, nothing good could come from following the scent of death.

Blink had a happy life with happy people who didn't care that every so often he'd walk by a plant and it would die, or the one time he'd tried to help with their farming it had ruined all of their crops and they'd had to start over but hey, it had been early in the season and maybe he just wasn't meant to grow food! They also never questioned the strange man who visited from time to time, or that even being close to him made their souls feel like they just had to jump out of their bodies. Maybe they just needed better karma!

One trip to town would change everything. Per his father's instruction, unless forced by death, ironically enough, he never left camp. His mother told him stories of terrible monsters that existed outside of their camp that would seek to them should he ever leave. Naturally, it scared the pants off of him so he never left.

Being the only child in a camp full of adult naturists was quite hard on a young boy with no one else to play with. So he had a friend, a turtle named Wilhelm. Wilhelm was everything Blink wanted in a friend, he never complained about any of Blink's rambling, he would go anywhere Blink took him and they both had a wonderful time. Or at least that's what Blink imagined his turtle felt. Yet, like all good things, it came to an end. Wilhelm, like any living creature did, died.

Blink was devastated, his only friend in the world gone he had no clue what he would do for fun anymore.

His mother being the kind and gentle soul, took one of the smaller bones of the turtle, and placed it in a small, stuffed turtle she made out of different materials. She told him, "With a piece of the real Wilhelm inside of this one, he'll never really leave you, and you can always find your way to him."

She said those things just hoping to make her son feel better, but those words were more literal than she could have imagined. Being the son of Death, he could feel the bone inside of the turtle and later, he discovered that he could use that connection to find his way back to the turtle, no matter where he was dragged.

So, with his new friend, Wilhelm the patchwork turtle, Blink continued his wonderful childhood until he was about nine.

One day his mother told Blink that she was going into town and he just couldn't help but beg her to leave even though he promised he never would. He'd never seen the outside world for more than a few seconds at a time before his father sent him home or he teleported back to Wilhelm, and it was always people dying. The boy just wanted to see what the world was like alive and well. So after begging, pleading, and oh so much groveling Blink was granted permission to go with his mother to the farmer's market that was held every week in town since he hadn't vanished at all that week and he was amazing. Not that she'd disagree with him.

People always asked how Blink could get so much sun, and never tanned or got sunburnt, but when looking at his mother, who was also always a bit pale, they got over it so she never had to really answer that awkward question. This made going through the market a little easier for the pair. Yet Blink seemed determined to make it difficult.

Blink held his mother's hand as they walked through the market, "Mom why is that man selling honey in a tube? How did he get it in the tube? How did you get it in the tube? Why is that apple three different colors, can't it make up its mind? Mom can I drive on the way home?" Yet Gizelle, being the kind soul she was, kept up and managed to answer all of her son's questions.

"Because he uses the honey to make it like candy. No you can't have any. I don't know how he got it in the tube sweetie, don't ask him. Sorry about that. It can't make up its mind because it's always fighting about which flavor is most delicious. No, maybe when we get off the road." She tacked the last one on the end a bit curtly, scared he might accidently drive them into a store when he got distracted.

This carried on as they walked through the market, Blink asking and telling all sorts of things to random strangers, his mother smiling her soft smile and letting her son be who he was. The pair made their way to a stand that was selling peaches, his mother letting go of Blink's hand to look at them. That was when he saw the snake lady.

She wasn't selling anything; she was just standing there, watching Blink and his mother through the crowd. It didn't help that she was holding a spear. Where her legs should have been were two snake tails, trailing behind her as she slithered about. But as he looked at her, she would flicker back and forth between that terrifying image of a snake lady holding a spear and bearing her fangs, to a nice old lady with a walking stick.

But when his mother called he ran away, instantly forgetting the snake lady, holding Wilhelm in one hand he went back to his mother, expecting not to have to worry about any more snake ladies. They turned a corner, only to be face to face with the old lady with the walking stick who had been eyeing him earlier.

"No one'sssss here to protect you now, away from the godssss. You'll be a problem we can't afford." She said, looking down at the young Blink, as if his mother didn't even exist, but she knew better.

"Mommy, what's she talking about?" He asked, looking up to his mother.

"Nothing sweetie, let's go." She told him, her voice trying to hide the anxiety she didn't want him to see.

At that moment, the old lady wasn't an old lady. Her legs split into two, thick snake trunks that coiled around, her body extending and morphing into that of a Scythian Dracanae. In her right hand, the walking stick had been replaced with a spear she was now brandishing in his direction.

When the Dracanae lunged however, Blink's entire world would shatter into pieces. He saw a flash of his mother's hair, moving as if slow motion in front of him, the spear tip sticking out of her chest, blood running down the wooden shaft. The tip of the spear was steel, like it had been sent to kill humans as well as demi-gods. Of course Blink was oblivious to all of that, he just watched helplessly as his mother fell to the ground when that spear was removed.

Blink sank to his knees as he was left kneeling in a pool of blood, soaking into his clothes and covering him. He was silent for a moment, like the impact of his mother's death hadn't hit him, but he could feel it, it was a tug in his gut that told him her soul was gone, and he'd never see her again. The dracanae just stood over him, grinning in her pre-victory gloating. "Husssshhh, it'll all be over ssssssoon." She purred at him, knowing she'd won.

But rather than break down, Blink was angry, angrier than he'd ever been in his life. Of course he'd never really been that angry in his life, but that's beside the point.

He stood up, his head low, but not hanging in defeat, it was low like a tiny tiger ready to pounce. His clothes were dripping blood as he rose, his hands stained red as he stared at the monster that took his mother through swirling, honey gold eyes. He could feel power running through him, nothing like he'd ever felt before, he didn't feel like a normal kid anymore, he was something more.

Letting his instincts drive him, Blink walked in front of the huge snake lady staring down at him, as if she was playing with her food by letting him move around. People were already starting to panic, calling 911, screaming, but none of them came near the pair. Blink never knew why, it most likely had something to do with the mist, or maybe Thanatos was so torn with grief he wanted his son to get his revenge, but who knew?

The small, red stained hand reached up slowly; quivering with agony, anger, and pure shock as he placed his hand on the body of the dracanae. It was then she realized she'd made a mistake. The moment his hand touched her skin, the monster began to disintegrate, slowly breaking down into a fine gold dust, screaming the entire way, Blink's swirling eyes practically glowing as he killed her. He didn't even know how he was doing it, all he knew was that he wanted her dead, and then she was gone, leaving him alone on a street full of now even more confused hippies, farmers, and other less interesting people.

He was alone then, but as his father might say, death always is everywhere and always has a purpose.

Eleven years later.

"Wait wait wait, so you're telling me that some crazy goddess is trying to take over the world?"

A man of about 20(even though he looked closer to 24) sat outside of a coffee shop in Phoenix, Arizona at a small metal table that he had no reason being at with his size, nomming on a muffin. He stood at about 6'3" and was a monster of a man, not the sort of person anyone would think to mess with. He had a head full of strawberry blonde hair, and a bushy beard of the same color. His face always looked like he was deep in thought, but he'd never let you know. His name was Caleb, and he was one of those rare mortals that could see through the mist for some inexplicable reason.

Blink sat across from him, and hadn't changed much over eleven years. His skin was still pale as a corpse, and his hair that same mop of fiery red that never quite matched up with his honey gold eyes. He'd grown to stand at a decent height of six feet, but he wasn't really anything special.

Blink was wearing a pair of black jeans with three chains decorated with silver skulls running along the right side of his pants. Going up led to a black shirt with "the end is nigh" scrawled on in grungy, white writing. He also wore black combat boots, and on his right wrist was a bracelet made of bones, human bones to be specific. On the back of his left hand was a tattoo of his mother's initials surrounded by barbed wire that snaked its way up his arm in two different strands, going under the sleeve of his shirt and cutting off on his shoulder with one strand ending just above his chest and the other ending right of the middle of his shoulder blade.

On his shoulder was his ever faithful companion Wilhelm the patchwork turtle, who went through all of Blink's turmoil and trials in life. The colorful stuffed turtle looked so out of place on the goth looking demi-god as he sipped on a cup of coffee.

He wasn't big like his friend across from him, but he was lean like a panther with toned muscles that were tense like he could leap ten feet at the drop of a dime. "I told you Caleb, yes, the Earth Goddess Gaea is waking up, and she's decided to make my life a living hell. My dad is gone, so nothing can die." The son of death spoke to his friend with a voice that conveyed just how long a life could be for a half-blood who'd spent eleven years on the run.

"So, I could shoot that guy over there, and he wouldn't die?"

"Yes, but that would only cause mass panic and who knows what would happen."

"Hmmm."

"Caleb."

"Okay, fine. Gosh, don't twist your scythe up. I thought you hated your dad anyways."

"I do, but no death is bad for everyone."

"Not me, just means I can kill the next old lady that walks in front of my car and get away with it."

Blink rolled his eyes at the comment as he looked around, brushing it off. Being the son of Death, he emitted a different scent than most half-bloods, one that most monsters tended to ignore; death wasn't something anything wanted to be near after all. However, that still didn't stop his paranoia of being attacked at any point.

And as if on cue, Blink's paranoia came to fruit, although not in the way he expected at all. All around him, time froze, Caleb stopped mid bite of his muffin and the rest of the world around him seemed to stop.

"Hello Dicé." Blink said, not bothering to look around, sipping his cup of coffee nonchalantly.

"Blink." A beautiful woman said, appearing in a chair to his left looking sternly at him with golden eyes that shined even brighter than his, more of a bright gold than his honey. She had long, flowing golden locks of hair that went around her shoulders, where a white and gold shirt decorated with flowing patterns. The back of her shirt depicted a scene of bounty and wealth transitioning into nothing, and back around.

She was the goddess of mortal justice, and Blink's… boss. He'd made a deal with the goddess that if she would give him a way to keep himself alive, he'd serve her in his mortal life to carry out justice on mortals, however that might be. So she gave him a scythe, forged from a delicate mixture of celestial bronze, stygian iron, and steel. It was a scythe that could kill anything as far as he knew, and it was bound to his soul by the goddess, marking him as hers.

Blink was one of the few who could wield such a weapon seeing as how it had stygian iron, and while only Hades or his children could use full stygian iron blades, Blink, being a child of death could hold a small, diluted amount.

Zeus had placed some executive law on all of the gods forbidding them from having contact with half-bloods or going to Earth at all, but Dicé was an exception, seeing as how justice couldn't ever stop. Even then though, her allotted time was extremely limited.

"There's a half-blood not too far from here who I want you to protect. He's a son of Nike, and could be very valuable. Protect him yourself; don't leave him alone under any circumstances, or out of your sight."

"What does this have to do with serving justice? Babysitting is not in my job description."

"It is not your place to question me. I think you would know better than that." She said, her stern face twisting with a bit of anger. Even Blink knew better than to question her more, so he shut up.

"Fine, where is the kid?" He asked, his face not displaying the temporary fear that welled up with the goddess' anger.

"You'll find him two hours north of here, and past that, he won't be hard to miss."

With that, the goddess vanished, leaving Blink emulating her firm expression with Caleb finishing the bite of his muffin.

Noticing Blink's facial expression changed within the last no time at all, he knew what had happened. "She was here again wasn't she?"

"Time to go."

"I hate it when she does that. Why can't she just leave me moving huh? What did I ever do to make her freeze me every time?!" He asked, seeming much more offended than Blink thought he actually was.

"Well, it could have something to do with the fact that you told her she has an authority complex. Gods don't typically like being told they have problems."

"Well they can get over it."

Thunder rolled in the distance as Blink rolled his eyes at his friend. "Let's just get out of here." He said as he stood up.

Half an hour later, they were in their beat up clunker of a car, some ugly old car that had used to be blue, but now resembled the color of rust, because that was what covered half of it. Caleb even joked about how they could just use the car as a weapon, and give monsters tetanus rather than fight them.

"So, what're you going to do when you find the kid?" Caleb asked Blink, who'd been looking out of the window and sulking ever since they'd left Phoenix.

"Who knows, but he doesn't have much of a choice no matter what he wants, death doesn't take no for an answer."

"I thought your dad was de-"

"Shut it."

"Gosh, okay, meanie."

There was also a reason why Caleb always drove. Despite Blink's handle on his powers, death still found him and dragged him places from time to time. With his father gone, his powers were going crazy in his head. He was being torn apart from all of the souls looking to be sent to the underworld, and only one demi deity to send them there. So should Blink ever drive, he might disappear going about seventy, leaving Caleb alone in a rust bucket of death. But hey, that might bring Blink back to the car if he couldn't find Wilhelm!

On the way there, Blink only vanished three times, which was good considering his current state of mind.

And with that, the next hour and a half led them to Flagstaff, Arizona. Small and peaceful, the town has a high population of trains frequenting the area on a daily basis. They drove around for a bit, just looking around.

"So, where exactly are we going?"

"I don't know, she just said that we'd know when we found him. Keep an eye out."

"Okay mister bossy." Caleb huffed, looking around and wondering what had gotten into Blinks head with seeing the goddess. It wasn't that he minded tagging along for Blink's adventures, sometimes Blink got moody like this though, especially whenever the topic of his father came up. Caleb didn't know what had happened between Blink and Thanatos, and every time he asked a plant wilted nearby when Blink got angry.

They just kept driving in silence despite the occasional sarcastic comment every once in a while, the clear-sighted mortal not seeing a spec of anything monster related at all. That was when they drove past a decent sized park; that was when things got interesting.

The park had a large grassy area, leading over to a set of picnic tables under a roof, because everyone wanted the option to picnic in the rain!

Close to that was a set of soft mulch, and on top of that was a jungle gym for kids to play on, with a miscellaneous teeter-totter here or there. The final piece of the set, the cherry on top, was a swingset, a favorite to many.

Caleb suddenly stopped the car, looking out at the park, and Blink looked around, unable to see anything other than a person who didn't look like they belonged there at all.

He was shorter than average, about 5'7" with dark, mocha skin that looked close to how Blink should have looked. He was more muscled than Caleb even, the lines of his cut body apparent even from a distance. That wasn't even what stood out though, on the top of his head was a mop of dreads that went down at least three quarters of his back. He looked like a lion with a black mane because similarly to Blink and the big cat on the hunt, the way he was sitting showed all of those muscles tense and ready to strike out should even a fly get too close to him.

He looked older than he really was, his face giving away that he was probably only about seventeen or eighteen when from a distance he looked at least twenty four.

"Caleb, it's just a guy, keep going."

"Blink, it's not the guy. It's the massive dog and the zombies."

"What?"

"Over there." Caleb said, pointing to the other side of the clearing. Standing near a line of train tracks was a group of girls walking a dog. But the more closely Blink looked, the mist dissipated and he could see what Caleb was talking about.

They looked like dead warriors, but Blink could tell they were alive because he could sense death. Blood was trailing down different parts of their lean arms, and he couldn't tell if that was because they were bleeding or if the blood was from someone else. Sweat evaporated from their skin so quickly it looked like they were steaming from some parts of their bodies. None of them had any weapons other than daggers or small knives, the female monsters still looking just as menacing without swords or spears. They had light armor on, probably to keep them fast, which he had no doubt that they were.

The dog in front of them was no ordinary dog either, taller than a large Great Dane, his head almost to the chest of some of the soldiers, his face just as mean as some of the spirits. His fur was chocolate brown all the way through, and his eyes glowing red.

"Blink, what are those?"

"If I'm right, and I hope I'm not, they're the Hysminai, female spirits of combat and battle incarnated. So nothing fun." Blink said as he opened up the glove box, pulling out two celestial bronze bracers that had been stained black. Each of them had hooks on the two ends facing inwards, so that he could use them to trap weapons and counter easier. Under his jeans he already had his leg guards on, similar bracers with plates covering his shins and calves, lacking hooks. From under his seat he pulled out a celestial bronze dagger, unhooking the straps only to strap it to his right thigh. He'd have preferred to put his breastplate on as well, but it was in the trunk and that would take too much time.

There was one fundamentally different thing about Blink at the moment; he was smiling with the anticipation for battle. It had been a couple of months since he and Caleb had had any real trouble with monsters, so he was itching for a fight, and he needed to blow off some steam.

Caleb pulled a pistol from the area between the seat and the door, a .45 1911 pistol, armed with highly effective celestial bronze bullets. Blink looked at him, his smiling face twisting into Dicé's stern look. "No, you're running low on bullets. Just stay here unless we're really in trouble."

"I have a whole extra clip, I'm coming."

"Caleb, if you think the Hysminae can be killed by a shot of celestial bronze anywhere you're wrong. It takes a true killing blow to kill them, and they don't stop until you land that hit. They also know what they're doing, whether they have weapons or not. It's that kind of attitude that lets them win so easily. Imagine a velociraptor, then make it deadlier, that describes the combat prowess of a Hysminai warrior. Among female warriors, they're the best of the best." Blink told his friend, who, as usual seemed to ignore everything he said.

"So I'm coming right?"

"No." Blink said without another word, stepping out of the car and slamming it behind him. He moved towards the picnic area where the dreaded figure was sitting, cautious not to get too close. Blink relied on the mist to keep his appearance as normal as possible, once he got close enough, the boy spoke to him.

"Who are you? What's with the turtle?"

Blink looked down at him through his swirling honey gold eyes under a mop of fiery red hair, "I'm Blink, I work for Dicé, the goddess of order. This is Wilhelm. Are you the son of Nike?" He asked cautiously, because even if it was a mortal, they'd just look at him like he was crazy and either threaten to call the cops, leave, or just skip the first two and call the cops. Those experiences were never fun.

"Depends on who's asking. How do I know you're not working for Gaea?"

Blink shrugged, "You don't. But I'm going to go kill those Hysminae."

"Wait, they can't die."

That was when Blink just looked over to the son of Victory. "Everything can die when I'm around." He said, leaving him with that confused look on his face. Blink just walked past him, his eyes straight on the female warriors. When he reached them, they eyed him over, a couple hissing at him. The Hysminai holding the leash to the massive dog took a step forward, identifying herself as the leader. "Son of Death, you cannot hope to beat us. For the Earth Goddess is on our side, your father is in chains and we cannot die. Turn around, give up the son of Nike and we will not pursue. Defy us and there is nowhere that we cannot find you."

Blink just looked at her with his face in that sinister smile. "I think I'll just kill all of you instead." He said softly, crouching into a fighting stance, his hands open, Wilhelm on his shoulder as always; ready to see Blink into battle and beyond.

Caleb had gotten out of the car at this point, walking over to the picnic table and setting his large frame on a bench near the demi-god still slightly awestruck that a demi-god would go so willingly to his death.

"He'll be fine," Said the redhead.

"I don't care if he dies or not, it's not like I know him. What who are you?"

"Psh, I'm Caleb, the most important person that you'll ever meet!" He said with a mischievous smile on his face.

"You're a demi-god?"

"No, but I see everything, even when you don't."

"So you're a mortal."

"If you want to get technical, but I'm so much cooler than regular people I'm like an honorary demi-god. What's your name anyways?" He said proudly, yet still with a hint of sarcasm added so it was obvious he was just messing around and that he wasn't a complete moron. Adding on the question out of curiosity when he realized the boy never shared his name.

"Zaire." He said softly, turning his attention back to the brewing fight.

The first Hysminai lunged at Blink with a haymaker, her speed so fast it seemed like she was trying to overwhelm him before the fight could really start. But he didn't make it to twenty as a demi-god by letting monsters get the jump on him. With similar, lightning fast speed, Blink drew the dagger from his thigh, dodging the punch as he ducked under her arm, spinning to blade to where he was holding it backwards, and he sliced up under her arm, severing the tendons that allowed it to move, hearing her cry out in pain as he didn't let up there.

That blow would have killed a normal monster, or at least severed its arm, but Hysminae couldn't be taken down so easily.

Blink tucked the dagger back in his thigh, turning along her back, careful not to touch any of that molten hot skin, steam spraying all over from her body as the motions of fighting, and bleeding, made her even hotter, should he touch or be touched by any of their skin, he had no doubt it would burn him severely.

As he face the back of the Hysminai, he gasped his right hand in thin air, his scythe appearing in the hand, the familiar feeling of that magically reinforced wood against his palm like heaven to the half-blood. The shaft of the scythe was painted gold and reinforced by Hephaestus so that the paint couldn't chip or the shaft of the scythe snap under even the most strenuous circumstances. The blade was forged from a mixture of celestial bronze, steel, and stygian iron; and the colors swirled in a beautiful pattern along the blade, making it shine with that usual celestial bronze glow, yet still manage to give the cold, foreboding feeling of stygian iron. It was a weapon fit for a god in the hands of a half-blood. Which is why Blink had Dicé bind it to his soul, should he let go of the scythe, it disappears, and when he wanted it, it came. The price was his service, and he accepted gladly.

That multicolored beauty swung forward in an arc of bronze, silver, and black as it sliced through the Hysmanai's neck, severing her head as her body vaporized into golden dust. Yet it didn't try to re-form, and the other's looked cautious. The leader stepped forward again, yelling angrily at Blink as her dog barked towards the picnic table. "What sorcery is this half-blood?"

"I am the Son of Death, not even a goddess can bring back the dead around me." He said with a wicked grin on his face.

The Hysminae seemed to be much more cautious of Blink this round, the lot of them surrounding him as they planned to attack him all at once, not willing to take the chance of him taking them down one at a time with no way to revive with him around.

What Blink didn't tell them, was that he wasn't sure if he could hold down all eight of the Hysminae for very long at all. So he'd have to get this done fast. That wasn't the only trick his scythe had either. It had started to steam a bit, similar to the Hysminai he'd killed. The Stygian iron in his scythe absorbed the essence of monsters and reaped souls, same as full stygian iron, but it couldn't take very much into the blade. This was why a simple cut with Blink's scythe would be triple the pain of a regular cut, because while it couldn't reap souls, it did damage them. The real trick however was that it took on traits of what it absorbed for a short time, this instance being the body heat of the Hysminae.

Over at the clearing, Zaire and Caleb watched in earnest, finally showing some sort of concern, Zaire looked to Caleb. "You think we should help?"

"Nah, not yet at least, he's got some stress to let off."

"But that's not going to matter if he dies."

"The day a monster gets the better of Blink is the day I get a job." Caleb said with a laugh.

The first of seven attacks came from a Hysminai with a dagger in her hand, swiping in a downward motion as Blink blocked it with the shaft of his Scythe, using his left hand to grab Wilhelm from his shoulder, throwing him behind three of the Hysminai. A split second later he was behind them, and with a wide slash of his scythe, three more of the female warriors fell to dust. Still moving with impossible speed, the next two lunged at him, each throwing a series of punches. Blink began to dodge more than blocking, the shaft of his scythe not much good against hand to hand combat, and he couldn't touch them to block.

However he could only keep it up so long, and one of the Hysminai landed a firm blow to his gut, burning straight through his shirt and into his skin as he flinched with pain. That split second of a flinch cost him dearly, as the next second he felt a foot connect with his jaw, turning the skin bright red from the heat as he flew to the side. The final pair, including the leader had run to the spot where he'd been kicked, and tried to finish it off, stabbing down at him with a dagger. But he disappeared just as the blade hit the dirt, standing a few feet away where he'd dropped Wilhelm mid-air. He was breathing heavily, and noticed the dog was also missing. "Caleb! Dog!" He called over as he dodged the dagger of the head Hysminai once again, turning as he swung his scythe, hitting her in the side and turning, holding her in the nook of the blade and the shaft, using it as a hook as he threw her into the playground, hearing metal snap and hiss from the heat and impact of the throw.

Another Hysminai had come up behind him, and Blink ducked under her foot, sweeping his own out and kicking her to the ground as he then drove the point of his scythe through her chest, vaporizing her. The two left attacked in unison once again, thinking that Blink with his scythe in the ground would be an easy target. They were wrong.

He let go of his scythe, allowing it to disappear as he turned towards them, using his left bracer to block the punch from the first Hysminai by using the celestial bronze against her wrist rather than his hand, ducking under the second roundhouse as he felt the blow go over his head, and straight into the jaw of the Hysmanai who'd tried to punch him. He was still giving off that wicked smile as he grabbed his scythe out of the air with his right hand once again, swinging it diagonally though the still upright warrior, the heated metal cutting through her like warm butter.

The one on the ground got up by the time the golden dust accumulated into a pile, lunging at Blink with a furious roar. The steaming blade cut her down before she could even get off an attack.

The entire time, he'd been doing this, the Hysminai leader had fashioned a spear from the broken, twisted metal that used to be the playground. While Blink was turned around, nothing left but piles of golden dust surrounding him, she threw it at him.

Blink then felt the oddest phenomenon, a tingling in the back of his head. It was a signal that he was about to die. So, he moved to the side just as the spear would have ran him through, watching it embed itself in the middle of one of the dust piles.

It was a power he hated to rely on, in that it relied on his reaction time being flawless, and the attack being something that would actually kill him. Had she aimed for his stomach or shoulder, he wouldn't have known about it at all.

Then he looked at the leader, and she at him, her face bearing insurmountable rage towards Blink, and his face turned upwards into that same sinister grin. It was time to let out the big guns.

They started running at each other, her with that impossible supernatural speed and Blink just running fast. However, when she was about ten feet away from him, he raised his hand at her, focusing all of his powers forward at her. She kept running, holding that dagger with murderous intent baring her fangs as steam rolled off of her body, making her look like a small steam engine of death.

At that exact moment, a train whistle sounded close by, the locomotive pressing forward, before it lurched, coming to a halt as the engine broke down, steam misting all around it, sitting near the park in a stasis, unable to move as engineers yelled at each other to find the problem.

Blink just watched as the Hysminai ran at him, however before she even got within striking distance, her body had started breaking down, "That fear, that anger, that is Death, knocking on your door." Death's presence surrounded her as she slowly broke down into dust, leaving a trail heading for Blink as he banished her from the earth. He slumped down to one knee from the effort, his powers taking their toll and starting to catch up with him as he felt the Earth Goddess fighting against him.

The dog running towards Zaire and Caleb hadn't decided to stop despite its masters being slain behind him. He growled and snarled as he ran towards his prey, determined to catch him.

Caleb looked to the dog, hating to ignore Blink's fight, but accepting that the demi-god could take care of himself. He reached for his gun, but cursed as he realized he'd left it in the car. "Uh, buddy, I know you look big and strong and all, but… we should run."

"Nah, I got this." He said as he drew a small rod from his pocket. Zaire put pressure on the rod and the ends both exploded outwards, humming that usual glow of celestial bronze as it turned into a six foot long staff.

Zaire stood up, jumping clean over the table and running through the area over to the monstrous dog and jumping to the side with less finesse than Blink, but just as effective as the dog rolled, unable to handle the speed and impact of landing. Zaire leaped forward, pressing off his back foot as he launched towards the dog, slamming his staff down on its head as it vaporized.

Caleb ran over to Blink and picked him up, knowing how much of a toll his powers took out. "What'd you go and do that for? That was dumb."

"I want them afraid next time they find us."

"You think it worked?"

"No."

"Then you're a moron, let's go."

Blink threw his arm around his friend as they walked towards their car. Blink looked over to Zaire, who'd put his staff away and walked over to them. "You want to come with us? All of them will be up and moving within the hour. We can be long gone by then and at least get some time." He said through deep breaths.

Zaire looked them over, still cautious, but he reluctantly nodded.

"Let's get out of here." Blink said as the trio made their way back the car.

Caleb laid Blink out in the back seat of their clunker and Zaire sat up front as they bolted off. "Where are we going?" Caleb called out to the back.

"I don't care. Dicé just said to keep him safe. Let's get out of the desert though; it'd be nice to have a change of scenery. Agreed?"

Caleb nodded and Zaire just looked back at Blink, his chin swollen and red from the burn and his stomach the same way from the punch. "Thanks for the help." He told the pale demi-god before turning back around.

It was eight hours later when Blink woke up, still in the back seat of the car. "Where are we?" He called up to the front, his voice dull and monotone; the tune of any normal young person waking up from a long sleep.

Caleb looked back at his friend in the backseat from the rearview mirror as he sipped on a sweet tea in a large, oversized cup with Zaire passed out to his right. "East, on the I-40 about twenty minutes out of Amarillo."

"Texas?"

"Yeah."

"I hate Texas."

"Sucks to suck. Here you go sleeping beauty." Caleb said tossing back a bag of greasy fries, that were lukewarm from the drive.

Blink looked in the bag and pulled out a burger, putting it back up front. "You know I don't eat these."

"But Blink, don't you think it's about time to give up being a vegetarian?"

"No, it was how I grew up."

"But… It's dumb."

"We go over this every time we get food. I'm not eating meat."

"Your father is the god of death, you'd think eating something dead wouldn't bother you."

"It's how I was raised, it's how I live my life, that's all there is to it." He said calmly, which was his usual excuse. And while it was true he was still a vegetarian because between that, his hair, and Wilhelm he had no other connections to his mother, and he was determined to preserve all of them.

He took a few fries out of the bag and started to chow down on them. Using that much of his powers took a lot out on him and he had to get his strength back in case the Hysminai found them. "Caleb, drive around, find a rest stop."

"Yes my lord and master of death sir. Shall I take you through the park as well."

A rare smile formed on Blink's face from his friend. "Why yes Jeeves I think so, that sounds delightful." He said with a smirk.

Zaire just stayed put the rest of the time, managing to stay asleep through the random bickering going on in the car. After about twenty minutes of re-routing they pulled into a rest stop, populated with the usual crowds at a rest stop late in the evening. One or two big rigs parked at the edge, three or four families stopped to use the restroom or get candy. Blink was sitting up in the back now, looking around for a good spot.

"Hey, kid, get up." Blink called up. When Zaire didn't even stir, Blink kicked his seat. "Get up!" He said more sternly.

Zaire woke up startled looking around, rubbing is eyes, "Where are we?" He asked softly.

"Texas big man. Home of everything wrong with America." Caleb said before Blink could say anything.

Blink just laughed at his friend's comment, not bothering to argue with him. "Get out, we have work to do." He said before stepping out of the car, bringing the remnants of his fries with him.

He munched on the cold fries as Zaire and Caleb both followed him over behind the nearly empty rest stop. The boy looked over to the redhead with a confused look sewn onto his face, "What's going on?"

"Your reflexes seem good enough, but I have a feeling no one has every taught you to really fight. Have they?"

"Well I played football. I've had to fight my way out of those things a few times now. My mom gave me the staff. But, I never really have a problem. When I need to win, it's like my body knows exactly what to do. It's like there's a line that shows me what I have to do to win."

Blink nodded as he listened, "Well, you need to learn. Cause I don't feel like babysitting, so, beat me. The catch is, turn your power off." He said watching Zaire and the confused look on his face.

"I can't, it just happens. I can't turn it on and off."

"Actually, you can. They're your powers. And they more control you have over them the more you'll be able to do. So, I'm going to fight you, and beat the crap out of you until you stop using your powers and learn to fight for real. Not some ability that may not work when you need it most. Just focus, you're the son of victory, win by controlling yourself."

Zaire just stopped, looking at the flaming haired man with a confused look on his face. Since he'd run away, no one had bothered to help him except for his mother. Now, someone out of the blue was teaching him about his powers. "Why are you doing this? Who are you?"

Blink's stoic face remained calm at the question, it didn't surprise him that the boy had doubts. "I'm doing this because a very irate goddess told me to, and because I work for her, I do what she says. As for who I am. My name is Blink, son of Thanatos."

"Who?"

"The god of death."

Zaire didn't reply just looking over the demi-god standing in front of him, still not sure if he could trust him or not.

"If you manage to beat me, I'll tell you more about myself. But that'll take a while, just try not to die. Turn it off, and learn to fight, don't rely on anything but yourself."

At that moment, Blink didn't care what Zaire had to say. He took a leap forward, grasping his scythe out of the air and swinging it in a wide arc straight at the demi-god.

With a cry, Zaire managed to duck under the blow, pulling out his stick in the process. He jumped back from Blink, extending it into his staff.

"Good, your reflexes are hardwired into your brain for battle. It's why most demi-gods are diagnosed with ADHD. You can't read English well because your brain is hardwired for ancient greek. There is one fundamental rule about being a demi-god though."

Just when Zaire was about to ask what Blink leaped forward again, swinging his scythe down as Zaire batted it to the side, with more of a swing than a defined move. He was fighting his head to stop him from seeing or feeling how to win, but it popped into his head for a moment and he turned around much more gracefully, swinging a Blink with the back end of the staff.

Reacting from years of experience in battle, Blink just switched his hand positioning to where the blade of the scythe was on the ground, so he could block the blow with the golden shaft of his scythe. "Do better." He said, as if he could read the boy's mind as they fought. Blink then grabbed the staff with his left hand, pushing it up as he let go of his scythe letting it disappear and the grasped it out of the air again facing the right way with that deadly curve on the other side of Zaire's neck. "The most important rule of being a demi-god is always expect to die. If you can react to anything as if it would kill you, then it would take twenty campers to beat you, and nothing will get the jump on you."

Blink then let go of both the staff and the scythe as Caleb just clapped. He was sitting on the ground and had just opened a bag of skittles to watch the fight play out.

Zaire wasn't used to being so confused for such a long time. So many questions had been popping up in his head since the fight started. His mother had only told him so much when she sent him a message containing his staff. "What campers?" He asked curiously.

"There's a camp for demi-gods, it's a magical sugar land where they live without fear of being hunted down on a weekly if not daily basis. Honestly, I don't know how they won New York."

"Wait, so you're saying everything that happened in New York was because of demi-gods?"

"Actually Titans, it was a messy thing. So much useless death all around, it almost made me care."

"So your family was dying and you didn't even try to help?"

"No not really, I was on vacation that week. Remember Florida Caleb? Good times."

Caleb just smirked and popped a few more colorful pieces of candy into his mouth.

"Other demi-gods aren't my family. The gods aren't my family. I only serve one god, and that's because she taught me how to survive. This whole business with Gaea doesn't concern me either."

"What are you talking about man?" Zaire asked, realizing that he really didn't like Blink all too much. He was cold, uncaring, like if Zaire were to drop dead it wouldn't bother him a bit, in fact, he almost killed him not a minute or two ago.

"There's some elder goddess awakening. The reason you're being chased, I'm led to assume, is that as the son of Victory, you can help her achieve it. That gift of yours, seeing how to win. My guess is that you can apply it to other things, and your body isn't well trained enough to know how to use it properly. So that's why I'm here, to train you up to be another pawn of the gods. Meaning I can't sit this one out either."

Blink was actually looking rather annoyed now that he thought about it. He was just starting to realize all of these things himself. He hated the position he was in. At any rate, he might actually have to participate in this war after all.

"Come one, we're going again." Blink said as he moved towards Zaire again.

"Wait, I have more questions!" He called out, but ready at the defensive. Based on the things he just learned, he had to get better, not for people he hadn't met yet, but to survive. He hated admitting it, but the jerk was right, he'd have to learn to control his power, and learn how to fight on his own.

"We'll talk in the car." Blink said, not ready for more talking, lunging at Zaire once more.

Three hours later they were back in the car, driving along, with Blink in his usual spot in the front seat once more. They'd fought for another hour and a half, and the hour and a half after that they spent driving and talking. Blink filled Zaire in on the particulars of who they were as demi-gods, and what that meant for how they had to live their lives.

When it got to Caleb however, Zaire was more confused than he was about anything Blink said. "So this stuff called the mist, you can see completely through it, even when we can't?"

"Pretty much, it's only awesome most of the time though."

"Why is that?"

So Blink began to explain something else to Zaire. _'Geez, this kid can absorb knowledge like anyone I've ever met. Either that or it's all in one ear and out the other.' _"Well, it started as many things did, in ancient Greece. Apollo's children just weren't cut out to be true oracles, as they all had more important things to do to make him look good. So, to stay in the spotlight in another way to the humans, he had to create oracles. Thus, he gifted many humans with sight. Some ended up with more sight than others, some, like Caleb can only see through the mist. Others, get small glimpses into the future. Either way, those gifts come from their bloodlines, but the gene is dormant, and there's no telling when it will activate itself in a human. Either way, any human gifted with sight comes from one of those lines of families. It's also a reason why Apollo made a rule that none of his oracles could have children. He couldn't let his gift reach to many humans, or else it wouldn't seem as useful anymore. But those who never became oracles couldn't be placed under such restrictions, so, they had families, who had families and on and on." He said calmly. Blink had found out sometime after he'd met Caleb, doing a certain job for Dicé that led them on the trail of a woman whose family had the sight for as long as they could remember, passing down the old story with each new generation. As far as he knew, it was the only family who had never had a child without sight.

That was a story for another time however; Blink's jobs weren't a part of what Zaire needed to learn at the moment.

Zaire let that sink in for a moment, "So that's how you saw them behind me at the park, and how you knew who I was." Blink had already told him about the Hysminai and what they were. He was wondering what that dog was, so he asked.

"My guess, it's how they kept on finding you. Laelaps. He was a gift from Zeus to Eruopa, one of his lovers, and he is a dog who always finds his prey. However, when he was set upon the Teumessian Fox, a fox who could never be caught, they were wound in a paradox. Now this paradox hurt Zeus' head, so it was said that he sent them to the stars to be out of his head for good. But he actually sent them to Tartarus for making his head hurt for so long. Great guy."

"So no matter what, they're going to find us again."

"Yup."

"What're we going to do?"

"Kill em."

The trio continued in a similar pattern for three days, stopping and training, then driving more, always on the move so the Hysminai wouldn't be able to catch up to them. Zaire learned more and more about Greek tales and demi-gods, and how to fight while controlling his power.

Three days might have seemed like a short amount of time to learn these things; however Zaire didn't come into it with nothing. He had a warrior's body and reflexes; all he needed was a bit of fine tuning. Caleb seemed fine with the trip, and Blink's vanishing ceased to a near standstill since his mind was so focused on training Zaire.

There were in a rest stop in North Carolina when Blink finally seemed to be content with Zaire's progress. "Now we're going to try something different. Rather than use your power to see how to be me. See how I'm going to beat you, see the line in a different perspective and turn that to your advantage."

"You think I can do that?"

Blink just shrugged and tightened his grip on the shaft of his scythe. Just ready to get the next round started. He knew by now that if Zaire said he was going to do something, it would get done.

Zaire had taken the initiative to strike first, relying on Blink's scythe and its lack of defense to help him. The swipe was blocked of course, but Zaire used this to strike on Blink's left side with the other end of the staff, forcing Blink to back away.

Of course, he only used this to spring himself back into action, the wide, multicolored arc ripping through the air as the dark-skinned demi-god blocked it, rather than dodging, able to see the length of the blade and where he'd need to stop it. Blink smirked as he let go of the scythe, re-forming it backwards, the blade on the bottom as he sliced upwards.

Zaire saw it; he saw a feint golden line showing him exactly where Blink needed to go to beat him, and it was off of that trajectory. So, using the offsetting balance Zaire turned and sideswiped the scythe out of the way, spinning the staff and taking it straight down above Blink's head. "Dead." He said, as he'd heard so many times over the last three days, a bright grin written on his face.

Blink just smirked as he knew that he'd finally been beaten, did he let it happen, yes, would he admit that? No. "Good job kid." He said softly.

Another day passed and they reached South Carolina, but the run was over. "Hey guys, there's a zombie chasing us in a van. Thought you'd like to know."

Blink's honey gold eyes that were almost glazed over from boredom changed to a piercing gold in a second. He was so intense that his control slipped and he disappeared, Wilhelm falling from the spot on Blink's shoulder to the seat. He reappeared a few moments later and looked back at the van. "Don't go to Nepal this time of year, it's cold." He said without a second thought.

"Caleb, take the next exit, we need to fight them, it'll buy us enough time to get away again. We can take the eight of them. Zaire, you ready?"

In the backseat, the boy looked up to his two friends and nodded solemnly. He wasn't quite sure if he was completely ready for this, he'd only even ran from the Hysminai and even with Blink's training he could only be so sure of himself after two weeks.

As if he could read Zaire's mind, Blink gave him a light smirk. "Don't worry kid, I won't let them kill you."

Zaire smiled and looked up at Blink, "Pssshhh. I'll be the one saving your butt." He said with a laugh.

Caleb took the next exit into Clinton, South Carolina, a place that was more woods and back-country than an actual place unless you went into town. They kept driving, before Blink was sure that no one was going to be around to see the fight to call the cops.

"I'm doing this right this time. They want the son of Death, they're getting the whole shebang." The red haired man said, his face hardening into an intense look. As he pulled out his dagger from under the seat.

They got out of their rusted over car, walking back in the trunk. Blink had on his normal black pants and combat boots with his shin guards on. He was wearing a black t-shirt that read "Turtle Lover's convention 2012." On the back of his shirt was an image of a turtle shell. His bracers covered his forearms, the barbed wire snaking under the armor.

Caleb popped the trunk as Blink got to it, the dagger strapped to his thigh already from under his seat. When he opened the trunk, a dark glow shone up onto his face which curled into a dark smile. The demigod lifted up the black breastplate that was the same as his armor, celestial bronze that was stained black, etched with barbed wire that matched his tattoo's design. The Hysminae seemed to want a good fight because the van just sat there while Blink put the breastplate on. He was ready this time, they weren't going to get lucky enough to beat him again, earth goddess or not.

Zaire followed him soon after, holding the fully extended staff in his hand as he walked over to Blink, his shoes crunching in the dirt as he made his way over. "What's the plan?" He asked cautiously and softly, as if he were worried they could hear him from the van. "I'm done running from these things." He said his face hardening, those long dreads cascaded about his face to make the boy's already intense face even more ferocious.

Blink just gave a soft smile, "Just remember, I can only keep them dead for so long, so don't be dumb, just try to outlast them." He said calmly. He had to seem calm and ready, but he knew there was almost no way they could win this time. Then he heard a door slam to the car and watched his best friend getting out, his strawberry blonde hair strewn about his mischievous face. In his right hand was the gun, and he imagined the other clip was somewhere close. In his left was a Celestial Bronze sword that they kept in the car for emergencies, this certainly couted.

"I'm helping this time, nothing you can do about it."

"Caleb…"

"Don't Caleb me, I'm helping, you said I couldn't shoot them anywhere to kill them right? I'll shoot 'em in the head. We'll see how long they stay up after that." He said, basically telling Blink that there was no other option, he knew his friend well enough to know that.

"Fine, then we all fight, and it's going to be the last time we fight them, even if I have to drag them down to Tartarus myself."

"Psh, no need to talk like that, we'll be fine. Wipe the floor with them even, right Zaire?" Caleb said happily, just like he always did with that bright grin on his face.

Zaire nodded back to Caleb, but before he could say anything the doors to the van opened, and like it was something out of a cheesy movie steam poured out from the van all around, from the Hysminae giving off steam over time Blink guessed. That didn't make it any less cheesy and entertaining though.

What walked out however, wasn't entertaining in the slightest. Two Hysminae got out from the front of the van, with eight more from the back that must have been packed in there. What really scared Blink though was the fact that the Hysminai in the passenger seat had a thin crown on her head, a black circlet that must have marked her as the true leader. They grouped up in front of the van, the marked Hysminai stepping forward, walking a few feet like the leaders were supposed to meet before the battle began.

'_What is this, ye olde Greece?' _Blink thought to himself as he approached the horrid looking woman, steam steadily blowing from her shoulders as she walked, her zombie like appearance showing what once could have been a beautiful woman, blood seeming to seep out of random parts of his body, steaming and evaporating from her body heat. "I'd shake your hand, but you're a bit too hot for me, and who knows what a girl like you has in that blood." Blink said in a bit of rare humor, the Hysminai didn't look amused.

"How hilarious half-blood. I am queen Aristomache of the Hysminai, the look on your face says you know who I am, and that means you know that as long as we have Gaea's support, you cannot hope to win this battle. Gaea offers you three options; the first is that you hand us the son of Nike and join our cause to see the blood of the Olympians flow, the second is you hand over the son of Nike, and we offer you a quick and painless death, the third is that when you fight we kill you then take the son of Nike bound in chains to Gaea. He will offer her victory over any who stand in her way, and none will be able to stop her. What do you choose?" She asked with that stoic look on her face saying she'd rather be tearing flesh from bone than talking written all over her face.

Blink could feel it; she wanted death so badly it was radiating from her so strongly it overwhelmed him. But he was the son of death, he didn't flinch before it, he took it in and grew stronger from it. As much as he hated death he accepted his role and his parentage. "Well then, I'll just have to kill all of you before that happens, I'm sure my scythe would love to taste your essence when I cut you to nothing." He said loudly enough for the others to hear, hearing them hiss at him in their queen's defense. His eyes met the original Hysminai captain, the one who he'd killed with his powers in their first engagement, and he winked at her, the provoking act gaining the desired effect.

He then turned his back on the queen and walked over to his friends, speaking under his breath. "It seems that it's worse than I thought. Aristomache is here, that's their queen. Her name literally means best battle. If we fight them all together, we'll lose. So, I'm going to take her on one on one, and you two are going to fight off the rest. That's our best bet of actually winning this thing.

The Hysminai queen had made her way back to the others, smug smiles on some of their faces, and angry looks of hate coming from others at his insult to their queen, but every last one of them looked just as deadly as the next. Blink narrowed his eyes to the queen as he called her out, "I challenge you to single combat, no one else but us." He said calmly, as some of them looked around curiously.

Blink knew that he had her in a jam here, as a spirit of battle, the Hysminae thrived on violence, and if their leader showed that she was unwilling to take part in the battle, then she'd look weak, and before this fight, that couldn't happen. So, grating her teeth together she nodded, knowing that meant her victory might not come as easily as she'd hoped. She nodded back at him, "I accept servant of Justice." She called back calmly.

Now it was Blink's turn to grate his teeth, for whatever reason, monsters seemed to have some great communication skills, maybe they had their own facebook, who knew? But every one of them knew that he served the goddess of justice, and he hated being called a servant. The plants around Blink started to wilt and turn brown as he sucked in the aura of death the Hysminai queen was giving off, thousands of years of slaughter stored into one being, experience he could never hope to live was coming at him. He just had to find a way to fight back.

He stepped off to the side, the queen matching his steps as they made their way away from Zaire, Caleb, and the other monsters. It seemed she was going to start the fight as she yelled, leaping forward with impossible speed, the others taking it as a cue to charge.

The beginning of their fight started with more sizing each other up than anything, her punches missing or landing on his breastplate or bracers. His swings with his dagger having the same effect, the few cuts he did get in healing nearly instantly.

It was hard to tell who was winning, the queen moved faster than anything Blink had ever fought, and it took every ounce of concentration he had to keep up with her inhuman speed. She sent a roundhouse kick aimed for his head, forcing him to stop his attempt at an assault, ducking under her leg as he took his dagger up, making the celestial bronze meet the middle of her calf, slicing clean through it as the bottom half of her leg disintegrated. He thought he'd finally made some ground as he flipped the dagger around in his hand, holding it more like a sword as he kept following the momentum of his duck to turn around, slashing viciously at the Hysminai. She instantly followed his same movement, managing to balance on one leg, ducking under his blow and punching him in the gut.

While his breastplate protected him from the heat of the Hysminai's skin, the pure force of the impact sent him back a couple of feet as she hopped back a step or two. He breathed in heavily, ready to go in for their next round, thinking he had the advantage. He was wrong. The Earth itself seemed to melt under Aristomache as it rose its way up to connect with her severed leg, forming a new one to get rid of the small advantage he had. She smirked in a smug look of victory as he watched in disbelief, laughing at his failed effort. "You don't understand half-blood. Gaea will heal me over and over until I lay your corpse in front of your father to show him how his son was defeated. You cannot win. Now show me your scythe, give me a real battle to feast on."

'_Oh. No. She. Didn't.' _Was all that Blink could think of as she spoke of his father. While he hated that jerk, he hated other people talking about him even more. He didn't speak, there was no snide comment, no strategy to get her angry, just pure rage. He channeled all of the energy the Hysminae had been feeding him, their urge to kill, the death that hung over their heads like a never ending storm cloud. Blink threw his dagger straight at her, the glowing blade passing right by her hip as she dodged it, embedding itself in a tree stump behind her. His honey gold eyes burned with anger, irises swimming with fury as he grabbed his scythe from the air, that familiar weight so calming to him in a battle as he charged in, Aristomache's laugh echoing in his head.

Zaire couldn't believe how fast Blink and the Hysminai queen were moving as he fought his own battle, taking a peek every now and again when he could. He had no idea Blink could even move that fast, let alone weild a dagger that way. He'd been training against the man for weeks now and he hadn't seen that side of him, heck, he'd won once or twice. Did that mean he was taking him that easy on him the whole time? "Zaire! Pay attention!"

BOOM. The sound of that 1911 going off again snapped Zaire out of his head as a Hysminai who'd been about to stab him in the back disintegrated instantly from a celestial bronze bullet to the head. Caleb's aim was superb, he'd never really seen the guy fight, he'd done all of his training with Blink and Caleb had always just sat and watched. After seeing Blink fight it seemed like Caleb had never needed to do very much, but he was just as incredible as Blink in his own way.

Zaire used his staff to swat away the punch of an incoming Hysminai, as Caleb came in from behind him, slashing her down the torso with his sword like he had read Zaire's moves and planned on them, like he was so used to fighting as a team he could adapt what he had to do to fit with Zaire. Caleb moved to the side for Zaire to strike a Hysminai in the head, disintegrating her instantly from the blow. They seemed to be doing well off the get go, but their luck would only hold out for so long. As soon as they'd cut one down, another would replace her and by the time they killed her there was at least another to replace her.

The son of victory thought of calling to Blink to keep them dead longer, but the red haired demi-god looked far too intense to be bothered at the moment, the lapse in concentration might cost him the fight. So Zaire was determined to find his own way to win. He focused, letting his powers come in as golden lines flared across his vision, using them to figure out where to dodge, strike, block to cost him the least amount of energy. He watched Caleb's line too, but he didn't need to say anything, Caleb never diverted from his line, conserving bullets whenever he could, slashing and blocking his way through the crowd of monsters.

He held his large size perfectly, being surprisingly nimble for one so big, and tearing through defenses with his powerful strikes, punishing those who held small knives or daggers and tried to block with them. Zaire was starting to understand that the stronger Hysminae held no weapons at all, using that searing body heat and physical blows to deal damage. He was even dripping sweat feeling the inferno of body heat surrounding him as he fought. He didn't have the luxury to think about cooling off though, he just had to keep fighting. Zaire spun his staff as he swatted away a kick, barely seeing a line trace its way across his face as he dodged under it, countering as he swatted out the Hysminai's free foot from under her, Caleb positioning himself perfectly to stab the fallen Hysminai as she fell, shooting another point blank as she tried to assault him.

The pair was holding their own, Caleb didn't know how, but they were. The kid had improved a lot over the last two weeks; maybe Blink wasn't as useless of a teacher as he thought he was. He watched him jump from attacker to attacker, swatting away fists and weapons as he counterattacked smoothly. It could have been a lot better, Caleb saw several missed opportunities, but these things came with time. He spun the blade in his hand, stabbing a Hysminai behind him as he brought the gun up to shoot another in the head _'two shots left'. _That was all he had in this clip, and he doubted he'd have an easy opportunity to change magazines. He withdrew his blade from the disintegrating Hysminai as he switched it back to a normal grip, leaning to avoid a jab from on that had popped up on him then.

If the things would stay dead, then they would have won by now, maybe, the Hysminai seemed to be focusing on Zaire, and not killing him, which made them that much easier to dispatch. As far as he was concerned, they had no such orders to his knowledge. "What's wrong babe? This face too much for you?" He taunted, the ghastly spirit snarling as she lunged at him, kicking in a wide arc which he jumped back from, straight into another monster who proceeded to punch him a few times in the side. He would have cried out, if he was a pansy, but Caleb let his adrenaline take care of the pain in his seared side as he shot the attacker, it was the first mistake he'd made and it almost cost him a bit more than he would have liked. He just had to keep going until he took his last breath, or they did, again.

Flaming red hair seemed to move in a blur as Blink fought, that energy of death the Hysminai carried with them feeding him raw power. His scythe was like an extension of his body as he spun and slashed, striking with the shaft as he dodged and attacked, the deadly dance of the pair carrying on like it was scripted, flawless movement after flawless movement. Aristomache laughed a flurry of lightning fast blows at him, her punches and kicks mitigated by his scythe or his dodging. He brought the blade down in a wicked arc which the queen avoided by jumping back a good few feet, steam pouring from her body because of the effort, lodging Blink's scythe into a tree stump. She laughed as she started to move forward. Which is exactly what he wanted, Blink let go of the scythe, letting it disappear as he took a hard step forward, throwing his back foot up and curling into a flip, grabbing his scythe out of the air as he turned back around, the motion throwing the Hysminai off guard for just enough of a second to let Blink tear into her, the scythe blade cutting through her from her collar bone to her abdomen in a split second, the stygian iron absorbing that bit of her essence, causing the blade to begin to steam with heat as she pooled in a pile of dust on the ground.

He knew that he hadn't won, just gained himself a moment of reprieve while she regenerated, there was only so much he could do during this time, however he knew that he couldn't sit down, fighting Aristomache was exhausting and with her gone that essence of death surrounding her was gone, taking away the extra bit of power it gave him.

As she slowly stated to reform from the ground up (literally) Blink did nothing but watch, not bothering to fight the re growth at all, he couldn't hope to beat the power of Gaea focusing on them and he needed every scrap of energy he could get. He did steal a moment to look over to his friends fighting the group, and they seemed to be doing well. Caleb was doing his best to keep Zaire safe when he needed it, his lack of experience still showing despite his power and natural skill. Caleb was extremely skilled, but there was only so much a mortal could do. Blink just hoped they'd make it through this, despite how much he doubted it. He noticed the Hysminai they killed seemed to regenerate much slower than Aristomache was, not that it mattered with the numbers that kept coming at the pair, fighting them off every time somehow.

The minutes that Aristomache took to regenerate seemed to take hours for Blink, so, while watching his companions fight, he fell into a pit of self-reflection.

They had been at a rest stop, and Blink had beaten the snot out of Zaire, again, and the boy asked more questions about the world he'd been so forcefully thrown into. This time, it was about where other Half-Bloods were, and why Blink wasn't there. The first question wasn't hard to answer; he told Zaire all about Camp Half-Blood, the games, capture the flag, campfires, and all of the new Cabins they had built after a demigod put Zeus in his place. Blink had to pause at his second question though; he'd had plenty of chances to go to camp. Thanatos had tried to send him there after his mother died, Dicé offered to send him there instead of taking him as her mortal instrument, and he'd been close by once or twice on jobs.

He thought back to those opportunities he had the option to go to Camp Half-Blood and he'd made the executive decision to make it on his own instead. Sure times had been hard, there were times when he would have rather give up and die than fight on. And that was for a meal, not even the monster attacks. But all of those experiences, all of those close calls, meeting Caleb, gods, even signing his soul over to Dicé; all of those things made him strong and capable of defending themselves. Sure, the campers could fight, they'd beaten off an army of titans and monsters, but they didn't know how to survive in the real world long enough to matter, they hid behind their tree in safety. Blink never hid.

As to why Blink had never gone, he just didn't want to if he was being honest with himself, the sound of being reminded of who he was, and being told to pray to his father every meal made him want to vomit the food he'd never eaten or sacrificed. Not only that, but with kids going home to their mortal families every year, it would bring up the pain of losing his mother year after year. On a more self-gratifying note, "Blink, Agent of Justice" sounded so much better than "Blink, son of Death, Camper" in his head. So he told Zaire as much as he felt like, the boy still knew nothing about his past, so Blink ran his right hand through his hair saying, "It would be too painful."

"Well, I'd like to go there, so much better than being on the run, plus, I'd never lose the games." Had been Zaire's response accompanied with a laugh and a cocky grin.

Blink and Caleb both laughed as well, knowing full well that the son of Victory was probably right in that regard. The boy had a knack for winning so long as he could keep up with what was going on.

A cool breeze started then as Aristomache fully reformed, two crusty, torn lips staring at him in that evil, haughty grin he hated so much. Her red eyes glowing with anger from the pain of being disintegrated and reformed so quickly, yeah, she was not happy. He breathed in the cool air, knowing this might be his last moment of peace before it all ended. Lifting his right hand, he ran it through his hair for a moment before taking Wilhelm off of his shoulder. He muttered a soft goodbye, just in case, before putting his friend back in his spot, the familiar weight on his shoulder a small comfort. He even muttered a small prayer to Dicé for all that she'd done for him. It was, in a word, peaceful. Despite the sounds of hissing and fighting going on so close to him, Blink just enjoyed this moment of stillness, truly appreciating the world around him. A clear cut area of land in the middle of no-where South Carolina sure, but a wonderful feeling nonetheless.

It seemed that Aristomache had gotten tired of watching him feel peaceful and calm because she'd lunged at him, which he barely noticed in time to duck under her punch. She turned on her foot, swinging her leg back around to kick at him with the back of her foot, but he grasped his scythe out of the air, blocking with the shaft as she grunted. "I'm getting really tired of that." She said through a growl. Blink just laughed at her and retaliated, pushing her foot to the side as he turned, swinging his scythe in a vicious arc of multicolored death which she dodged under him, moving in close before he had a chance to react, punching him hard in his gut. He felt every bit of the impact, her first feeling like a wrecking ball to his armor, denting the celestial bronze and no doubt bruising his core.

The armor kept him safe from the heat, but she still hit like a freight train, sending him back a few feet sprawled out on his back. He knew that he had to get up, but she was too fast. The demon was on him in an instant, her knee pressing down on his chest. "You fought well demigod, but now you die. Gaea will hold your soul in Tartarus and show you pain you can't even dream of." She said triumphantly before slowly extending her hand down.

Caleb felt his heart drop as he looked over to see his best friend, his brother lying there on the ground under the Hysminai queen. "BLINK!" He yelled over the sounds of Zaire and himself fighting for their lives, killing monster after monster. He knew he only had three shots left, and he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up. The two of them were getting tired, he could tell. They didn't get stronger as more things died, it just meant they'd used up that much more energy. He couldn't break free of the swarm to go to Blink's aid either. This was it. This was the monster that would defeat the son of Death.

Blink knew that his scythe wouldn't be able to help him here, not this close, and his dagger was still logged in a stump close by, but not close enough. He extended his hand out, reaching for it with his every desire to live and destroy his enemy once and for all. He could feel the heat radiating off of her body, steam pouring from her body in what had been rage. She was ready to claim her prize.

Aristomache just laughed as he struggled, fighting for dear life like an insect about to be crushed under a boot. "This is it Blink. You will be a thorn in our side no longer." She said before thrusting her hand forward, moving to wrap it around Blink's neck before he pulled out his last resort. The second her hand touched his skin it dissolved into dust.

"To touch me is to touch death. You shall feel death's embrace." He said looking at her with a smirk on his face. He wouldn't go down until he had no energy left. He refused to give up, he couldn't. Zaire and Caleb were counting on him to win this fight and he couldn't give up on them. She lunged forward with her other hand, and the second that boiling hot hand touched his skin it fell to dust, leaving a thin line from the raw heat scorching his skin. He could feel his powers seeping every bit of strength he had left, but he didn't care.

Blink just laughed, he laughed and laughed at her rage. "I thought you were going to kill me?" He teased with an evil smile spread across his face. Then he noticed something, her hands weren't reforming. What was going on? Could Gaea have given up on her? The pain in his neck was irrelevant as they both took in this detail. Then Blink felt, different, he felt better than he had in months.

Demigods drew their powers from their parents. And while no matter what some of their powers stayed with them no matter what, if their godly parent was captured for some reason, the powers of the demigod waned as well. But now, Blink felt like he was back a full strength. Thanatos was free. Blink laughed again as he reached up and threw the monster off of him, standing quickly and grasping his scythe out of the air. "I am going to send you to the deepest pit, the darkest cell, the lowest hole I can feel in Tartarus." He said with his face darkening into one of pure anger.

His red hair began to flow in a wind that picked up then, the demigod focusing every last bit of his full powers as he walked towards the queen, who was trying to run away. He picked his dagger up from the stump and threw it into her leg, watching it disintegrate as she fell to the ground. "Disappear from this world." He said calmly as he leaned over, touching his finger to Aristomache's head as she fell to dust, her essence falling to wherever Blink sent her in Tartarus.

Then he turned to the remaining Hysminae who witnessed the fall of their queen. It was at that moment they realized Gaea was no longer able to help them. Blink surged forward with his scythe, meeting his friends in combat with causing death being his only intention. The three warriors plowed through the remaining monsters with renewed vigor until all that was left around them were piles of golden dust. He didn't know how he was still standing. Using his powers that much along with the intense fighting should have left him passed out for at least a day. But he wouldn't let himself fall, he couldn't.

The three were gasping for air from the fight, tired and burned in different places, bruises littering their bodies as they stood there in the silence. Caleb was the one to break it of course, "Well, that was easy, meet back again next week?" He said with that playful smile on his face. The two half-bloods just laughed and Caleb joined in. They stood there smiling and laughing together, despite the pain that they all felt.

Then however the wind picked back up again and their laughter faded, Blink looking behind him to see the last person he wanted to see. Rage instantly filling his broken and tired body with new strength.

Thanatos stood among the piles of dust, his dark skin seeming to glow, and those sad, yet hopeful gold eyes looking at the trio. "Congratulations on your victory." He said calmly, although his gaze never left his son, who's face had twisted into a dark glare.

Blink hated knowing that their father had been the reason all of them were still alive, he didn't want to see his father, he didn't want to talk to his father, and he had no doubt the god knew it. "So, you're free then?" He said harshly, to which his father just looked even more sadly at him.

"Blink…"

"Don't Blink me. My mother's death is your fault. You took her from me, then you tried to send me to that place. No, the only thing you're good for is keeping my powers at full strength." He said harshly before turning his back on the god. It was the same routine every time they met, Blink had his line down pat.

Now, most gods would never accept such an insult. But Thanatos wasn't most gods, and this was his only demigod child. He loved his son, and he would accept him in time, the god of death had seen that. "There's a war brewing Blink, and you can't just sit on the sidelines this time. Dicé has seen to that. The only question is, will you run from this?" He asked his son, trying to ignore everything else his boy said.

Blink shook his head, turning to his father and grabbing his scythe out of the air. He ran at him, swinging in an obvious overhead arc with every ounce of strength he had. Thanatos just extended his arm out and the iPad that was in his hand transformed into his own scythe, pure stygian iron, a skull where the pure black shaft met the blade that radiated power and death. Just looking at the shaft made Blink's soul twitch, the blade itself just encouraged everything around it to die. When the two weapons collided, a wave of death burst from the impact, a perfect circle of death appearing around them, the tree stumps dissolving, and grass or weeds that were left fading to brown and black.

Rage boiled over his face as his gold eyes met his father's, those damn eyes he hated so much staring straight back at him. "I'm done running. I will destroy the armies of Gaea. I will save this camp you all love so much and my name will echo through time. Not as your son, but as the bane of Gaea. Wherever she moves, I will block her. Wherever she turns her gaze, I will blind her. Her pawns will fear me and her children will lay dead before me." He said through gritted teeth as he let go of his blade, his father's transforming back into an iPad.

Thanatos just nodded, "I loved your mother Blink, I still do. Not a day goes by when I wish I could have ignored my duty. There is no escape from death son. You of all people know that." On that note, Death spread his huge, black angelic wings, wrapped them around himself disappearing into the silence that followed.

Zaire leaned over to Caleb and whispered, "Who was that."

Blink was already beside them and Zaire jumped as he responded, "My father." He said walking back to the car. When he opened the door however, Blink disappeared, losing control over his powers for a moment and being drawn away somewhere by some death in the world. He reappeared before Wilhelm hit the ground, catching the stuffed turtle before climbing into the car, armor and all.

Caleb walked over to the dust pile of Aristomache, grabbing Blink's dagger before walking back over to Zaire, "That was a friendlier meeting, last time they almost wiped out Detroit." He said patting the boy on the back and hopping into the car.

Zaire's eyes widened as he shook his head, taking his spot in the backseat as Caleb revved the engine.

A day later the three companions sat in a restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina still healing up from the fight. Blink happily munched on a salad while Zaire and Caleb both ate burgers. There were some bandages wrapped around his ribs among other spots, as well as wrapped around his neck from where he'd been burned and beaten during the fight. He hadn't told them where they were going yet, and they'd been bothering him about it ever since they'd left Clinton.

"So Blink, where are we headed? Cause you know, you should tell me. I wanna know." Caleb said pestering him again with that mischievous grin on his face.

"New York."


End file.
